40 Days in the Word - Power of the Word Sample

Theme | I Will Give You Hope

From | Elba Broadhead

Verses | 1 Peter 1:3-4, Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 15:13, Proverbs 13:12

Jesus - Our love, our peace, our joy and our living hope.

I love those seasons in life when everything is going well, and I truly feel that I am experiencing the fullness of His joy and His peace. The days when I wake up with a smile and thank Him with great expectation of what He has in store for me that day. These are also the days that I don't necessarily think about hope, because the knowledge of the hope that I have in Him is tucked into my heart as part of the assurance of His love for me.

However, everyone also experiences seasons of illness, loss, pain and despair at some stage in life. Thankfully, I have always found that my faith remains firm during these times - a bit like the mast on a sailboat. When the storms come, the mast stays firm, but the lines that control the direction and stability of the sails and the rudder that steers the course come under threat and require navigation. Those lines are our joy, peace, patience and hope - all the things that make us so happy during the good times. If we lose joy we can usually still hold onto some measure of peace (and vice versa), but hopelessness is a very dark and dangerous place and from it, can stem a broken heart, or sickness such as depression and anxiety.

The good news is that we can trust our loving Father to get us through these times because He has put everything in place to ensure our survival! He gave His Son so that we have the assurance of eternal life, and He promises in His Word that His plans for us are good to give us a future and a hope. Let us embrace this precious gift of hope to cling to during the tough times, and to celebrate during the good times.

Prayer | Father, thank You that You are a loving Father giving only good gifts to Your children. Thank You for the gift of a living hope both now and for eternity. Help me to rest in Your goodness and in the knowledge of the hope I have in You. Amen.